<p>So I have a problem, I come from a family of six kids, only one of which is entirely independent, four (counting me) still live at home, with our two parents.</p>
<p>But my family brings in about 200k a year (Not sure if before or after taxes...), and my parents have told me that I'm not getting any financial aid, but they won't go into debt to pay for anything beyond a state school (20k a year before any aid).</p>
<p>Both of my parents are nearing their late 50s and are saving for retirement, regardless of wether they have the money and won't pay, I won't be given much.</p>
<p>So, question is, are there any ways to get financial aid to be able to afford a private school? Or will I just have to regulate myself to state schools? I'm trying for minimal debt here.</p>
With income like that you’ll need to shoot for merit aid instead of FA. I believe you’d even be full pay at Harvard. Look for the threads on guaranteed merit aid and full scholarships.</p>
<p>You know “relegate” to a state school is really your choice of wording. Many public universities offer excellent undergraduate (graduate and professional) degrees at a fraction of the cost of other options. Your parents are giving you the gift of the cost of an instate public university. Start looking at the cup as half full instead of half empty. You are very lucky.</p>
<p>Now…to answer your question about private schools. Will any of your siblings be in college at the same time as you are? If so, then at some of the very most generous schools in terms of need based aid (HYPSM, and others that meet full need with very generous need based aid), you actually MIGHT get enough need based aid that your family contribution will be close to that of the cost of your public university. BUT you have to get accepted, and these very generous schools accept less than 10% of applicants. 90% of applicants are not admitted…despite many being very well qualified.</p>
<p>Another option…if you think you are a competitive applicant for HYPSM or the like, you could garner significant merit aid at other schools. Merit aid is not linked to your family income. Do a search on this forum for guaranteed merit aid. There is a thread!</p>
<p>But again I say…your instate public universities could have much to offer you, including a debt free undergraduate college education. Start looking at the positives!</p>
<p>Each college/university has a Net Price Calculator right on its website. Run your family’s financial information through those. The NPCs will take into account the number in your household.</p>
<p>If your parents will chip in 20k each year, and will file the FAFSA, then with student loans you will have $25,500 available for your freshman year. In many states that will indeed more than cover the cost of an in-state public U. If you have the grades and test scores to qualify for merit-based aid, you might be able to land a full tuition/fees scholarship or one that covers more than half of tuition/fees, which could bring your total costs down into the range of what you and your parents can afford.</p>
<p>There are several threads on guaranteed merit-aid and competitive merit-aid in this forum. Scroll down to find them and follow the links that are in those threads to learn more about options that might work for you.</p>
<p>*But my family brings in about 200k a year (Not sure if before or after taxes…), and my parents have told me that I’m not getting any financial aid, but they won’t go into debt to pay for anything beyond a state school (20k a year before any aid).</p>
<p>Both of my parents are nearing their late 50s and are saving for retirement, regardless of wether they have the money and won’t pay, I won’t be given much.</p>
<p>So, question is, are there any ways to get financial aid to be able to afford a private school? Or will I just have to regulate myself to state schools? I’m trying for minimal debt here.*</p>
<p>I think you need to adjust your attitude a bit. There’s nothing “relegating” about attending a good state school. As a matter of fact, many are better than various privates. Privates do not equal “better.” Publics do not equal “worse”. </p>
<p>You now know that your parents will pay up to $20k per year. That’s a lot of money and shouldn’t be pooh poohed. Your parents have 6 kids to put thru college. 6 x $80k = $480k </p>
<p>Your EFC will be much higher than $20k so that the problem. Your EFC will likely be $50k or more. Sure, some $60k per year schools may give you a little need-based aid, but when you’re only paying $20k, and a school gives you $10k, you’ll end up with a big fat hole of $30k of uncovered costs. </p>
<p>You need a strategy so that you’ll have affordable choices.</p>
<p>That you have more dependents in your family, gives your parents a larger asset protection allowance. But unless there is more than one in college at the same time, no other break.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t characterize this as a problem. You know going in that your parents will pay $20,000 a year toward your college expenses. That’s pretty good. Keep in mind that students who qualify for financial aid don’t necessarily get the aid they need - there are only a small number of schools that promise to meet full need. If you have good stats and you carefully craft your list of schools, you should have a number of options. In addition to your state public (and be grateful that you have a state public that costs $20,000 - the flagship in my state has an in-state COA close to $35,000), there are many private schools that will give merit scholarships to top students that will bring your costs down to a number you can afford. Check out the links on this forum and aim for schools where your stats are near the top of their range. Those schools aren’t the tippy-top privates, but remember that your success has more to do with YOU than the school name on your diploma.</p>
<p>I suppose relegate isn’t the right word, but it’s limiting. Anyway, thanks for the advice about guaranteed merit aid.</p>
<p>The three siblings behind me are spaced two years apart, so in my fourth year there should be two others entering or in college (probably?), but for the first year, my older brother might be in grad school. So at most I could have three other people in college, but this would vary wildly.</p>
<p>My two highest school at the moment are University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Hampshire College. Does anyone know much about financial aid offered at Hampshire? I’m not that worried about Amherst.</p>
<p>Berrigan, I don’t believe Hampshire has the same level of financial aid as Williams or Amherst, but I doubt you will get aid at even the elite schools for 2 more years. Once you have another child in school, and especially 2 others, your EFC may be split and you might get financial aid. Put the numbers in the calculator at the Hampshire admission sight so you can see for yourself.</p>
<p>Start researching schools with good merit aid right now. Are you willing to go to school outside the NE? If so, you will have much more luck finding something affordable. </p>
<p>Then by all means, read Lynn O’Shaunessy’s (sp?) The College Solution. A very realistic book about paying for college, including the circumstances you describe. It’s a great read. Your parents might want to read it, too. The College Solution has a facebook page, a web site, and a blog on CBS Money Watch. I strongly suggest you take her advice into account.</p>
<p>For fafsa, having additional siblings gives your parents a larger income protection allowance, about 5k each if they are not also in college. The asset allowance is only affected by the number of parents and the age of the oldest parent.</p>
<p>How much allowance is made by schools for their own funds will vary by school so you need to run the NPC for each school.</p>
<p>Do you not want to post your SAT/ACT and GPA? It’s ok if you don’t, but if posters have an idea where you might stand for merit aid, you could get better suggestions.</p>
<p>*Does anyone know much about financial aid offered at Hampshire? *</p>
<p>I don’t think you understand. It doesn’t matter if that school gives “good need-based aid” or not. It won’t give you the need-based aid that you’d like to get. You don’t have the “need” or “enough need” to get what you want. You want at least $40k in aid.</p>
<p>Look at it this way: Schools that give generous need-based aid DO NOT give it to those who don’t have the demonstrated need. So, even if Hampshire would give an awesome FA pkg to another student (whose family earns a lot less than yours), you wouldn’t get that aid.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if Hampshire gives merit scholarships? If so, who gets those, how many are awarded, and what are those students’ stats? </p>
<p>IF Hampshire were to give you a $15-20k per year merit scholarship, you still couldn’t afford the school. The school costs $60k per year. Your family won’t pay the other $40k. </p>
<p>Would you be very happy to attend UMass? If so, then that can be one of your financial safety schools. However, I would suggest that you have at least 2-3 financial safeties that you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered.</p>
<p>BTW…just looked at Hampshire’s FA stats. Only 22% had their “determined need” met. That suggests to me that this school is full of very affluent kids who can afford to attend a pricey school that gives poor aid.</p>
<p>The average merit scholarship is less than $10,000 per year.</p>
<p>Years and years ago I wanted to go to a school like Hampshire, and was happy to find New College of Florida, which has a similar program. While New College’s sticker price COA is $42K, they give merit scholarships to everyone, in varying amounts. There are other cool schools that give merit aid.</p>
<p>You need to ask your parents about what they’ll do when they have 2 in college at the same time. Will they pay $40k per year for two in school at once? On CC, we’ve seen families get “bit” when their younger kids go to college and they’re faced with now paying double or more.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where the idea that New College gives merit aid to “everyone” came from, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, and an average amount of $3K isn’t going to help much even if they do give them to everyone.</p>
<p>BobWallace, I’m a New College alum and have visited recently. That small $ of merit is for the in-state kids, which make up 77 percent of the school. NC really really wants out of state students. I’ve talked to them. They have a formula for giving merit to out of state depending on their stats, plus, last year they out of no where gave all out of state kids an extra $15,000. Crossing my fingers that they decide to do that again. It’s not a guarantee but it’s worth looking into.</p>
<p>Hey, back in 1982 I was in a similar position to the OP, but my parents wouldn’t give me any money because I could go to the school my dad taught at free. New College gave me an out of state tuition waiver so my tuition was $500 a semester. It was a total shot in the dark, I applied, I didn’t know they had such a thing, and surprise, I could afford to go. I’m not saying this kind of thing happens all the time, but it does happen, and unless one looks deeply, nothing will happen.</p>
<p>I can’t think of many states if any that don’t have an excellent public university choice. $25,000 is a decent college budget to work with. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by prematurely saying you won’t take out student loans or dismissing a financial safety or two. Add a couple schools where you might qualify for enough merit to bring the cost down. If you have your heart set on an LAC there are plenty in the midwest with $40,000 price tags and opportunities for merit. Your parents are being open and honest with you, which you should be thankful for. Take it to heart and craft a potential college list that will work FOR YOU.</p>
<p>S applied to both Hampshire College and New College of Florida for Fall 2013. We’re a family of six with a good household income but not as high as yours, and S will be the only one in college this fall. New College gave him a $15,000 merit scholarship which brought the first year cost down to about $24,000 (without factoring in a student loan, which would have been all unsubsidized). Hampshire said they gave him the biggest merit scholarship they offer (I think $16,000) and along with some additional aid, the cost would have been about $37,000 (without factoring in loans) for the first year. He loved Hampshire, but sadly, it ended up being the highest-cost option so was not a real option.</p>
<p>For your info purposes, he received a very good financial aid offer for Skidmore, an obvious great deal for (CUNY’s) Macaulay Honors College, and quite a bit of merit money for University of Vermont (he was invited into the honors college and they offered him additional merit money shortly before the May 1 response deadline).</p>